How Anti-Homelessness Legislation is Anti-Veteran and Anti-Children

Homelessness across America has seen an uptick from 2019–2020 at an increase of 2.2% according to HUD’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report, and it was the 4th consecutive year homelessness increased. This report found that on a single night, 580,446 people are experiencing homelessness. In the wake of new legislation aimed at criminalizing homelessness throughout the state of Texas, we need to ask: whose lives are being criminalized?

The 2020 HUD Annual Homeless Assessment Report found that 8% of all homeless adults are homeless veterans, amounting to 37,252 people. The same report found that 114,796 (20% of the people experiencing homelessness) are children. The report also found people of color considerably overrepresented with 39% being black, 23% being Hispanic or Latino, and American Indian, Alaska Native, Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian populations account for 5% population experiencing homelessness.

A report by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty analyzed legislation in 187 cities across the United States and found that many cities have essentially criminalized homelessness through a number of policies, and the amount of cities imposing these policies was rapidly increasing.18% of these cities impose city-wide bans on sleeping in public, 43% prohibit sleeping in vehicles, 34% impose city-wide bans on camping in public, 24% impose city-wide bans on begging, and 9% even prohibit sharing food with people experiencing homelessness. Yes, in 9% of cities surveyed, it is illegal to give food to a homeless veteran or child.

Some cities with particularly bad homeless policies are:

· Clearwater, Florida

· Santa Cruz, California

· Manchester, New Hampshire

· Virginia Beach, Virginia

· Colorado Springs, Colorado

· El Cajon, California

· Orlando, Florida

The cities listed are especially troubling, given the fact that Virginia Beach is well known for the Naval Station and Colorado Springs is well known for the US Air Force Academy.

In late May, the Texas Senate passed House Bill 1925, with a vote of 27–4, that would make camping in an unapproved public place a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500. With this recent resurgence in anti-homelessness policies, we need to ask: why do these legislators hate veterans and children so much that they want to force them out of their cities and into their prisons?